F
Felger Carbon
The homebuilt community gets a lot of good information from the
numerous reviews on different pieces of PC hardware on the web. These
reviews can be found on the review sites, and they are usually indexed
by Google (and other search engines).
I discovered early this morning that these reviews can be censored,
and in one particular case, _is_ being censored. I refer to a June 27
2005 review of the Arctic Cooling Silentium PC case, which generally
sells for $129. Now, many PC cases, particularly the cheaper ones,
have "cutting edge" performance (literally). But not the $129 cases,
at least not ordinarily. The June 27 review on Madshrimps, a Danish
site, showed photographs of some of the Silentium's sharp edges.
Guess what? Madshrimps is being censored! Question: is Madshrimps
a participant in this
censorship, or a victim? I refer to the June 27 2005 review of the
Silentium
case, which revealed its "cutting edge" performance.
Here is an email I've sent several people this morning:
-----------------------------
If you Google "Arctic Cooling Silentium Review" you'll find lotsa
places have
reviewed the Silentium. The one I read first was the Madshrimps
review on
June 27th of this year. You'll find that listed near the top in
Google. This
is the review that had several photographs illustrating the
Silentium's
"cutting edges" **literally**. But if you click on that review,
you'll find
that, strangely, it won't load. Hit refresh, and something seems to
veeery
gradually start loading, at a rate that'll complete sometime in the
next
millenium. Hmm. Strange.
No matter. We'll go to the Madshrimps site directly, click on
"articles", and
note that there are 27 articles on cases. Click on that, and (as you
would
expect from the Jun 27 date) there's the Silentium review, cutting
edges and
all, right at the top of the list. Click on that and... what's
this??... a
review of a _Thermaltake_ case, one that is not one of the 27 on the
list???
How about that, conspiracy and censorship fans?
---------------------------
OK, here's what some of the _favorable_ sites had to say about the
Silentium:
Silent PC Review: "It is impossible to take the side cover off
without first
removing the base. Removing the cover while there is a system running
inside
is a delicate and potentially dangerous procedure. It's a very awkward
design
compromise. Our impression is that this case is aimed mainly at system
integrators who would sell it as part of a complete system to
customers who'd
rarely open the case.."
"There are some minor issues that make the case unpleasant to work
with.
"All the plastic in the case is brittle, meaning that it breaks
easily.
The front panel cables could have been an inch or two longer.
The right panel is not removable, and the left panel requires the base
to be
removed before it can be opened.
The base / case interface is really awkward and could use rethinking.
"
"Most of these are installation issues, that, hopefully, only need to
be dealt
with infrequently.
The main difficulty that we have with this case is, of course, the
noise the
PSU fans produce, especially as the load is increased. We know the PSU
fans
are louder because they run faster than the back case exhaust fans.
There may
also be some extra resonance caused by vibrations going from the fans
into the
PSU and chassis as well. We also know that these fans can be much
quieter,
judging by the identical fans that are running slower on the back
panel.
We contemplated removing the PSU to either swap the fans or slow them
down
with extra resistance or diodes in the voltage feed to them, but
decided
against it. It's something only a small portion of even the hardcore
SPCR
audience would undertake. The power supply is really quite integrated
into the
case, and not designed to be removed. So most users will be stuck with
the
stock fans in the PSU as they are."
Insanetek: "From the cooling performance, it doesn't seem like the
Silentium
does that much better than a regular ATX case. But keep in mind that
the
Silentium does not have any intake fans to bring in cool air."
"Like many companies on a first attempt, Arctic Cooling's Silentium
T-series
comes with many flaws. The main imperfection is the motherboard tray.
There
just isn't enough space for ease of installation. It wouldn't hurt to
add an
inch to the width so that the motherboard can slip in easier. The
second is
the number of drive bays available. With so many accessories available
today,
it's not very surprising to see enthusiasts take up more than two
5.25" drive
bays. The last major flaw would be the included power supply. Although
Arctic
Cooling claims to be able to power a 3.8GHZ and a 6800 Ultra, the
moment I
installed a BFG 6800 OC, the system showed instability. The problem
wasn't
with the graphic card either; I made sure of that. Arctic Cooling sure
gets a
good pat on the back for their great innovations, but they need to do
a lot of
work to fix these flaws."
But not a single mention of the Silentium's cutting-edge performance.
If
there had been, these reviews would have been censored out of
existence, too!
;-)
numerous reviews on different pieces of PC hardware on the web. These
reviews can be found on the review sites, and they are usually indexed
by Google (and other search engines).
I discovered early this morning that these reviews can be censored,
and in one particular case, _is_ being censored. I refer to a June 27
2005 review of the Arctic Cooling Silentium PC case, which generally
sells for $129. Now, many PC cases, particularly the cheaper ones,
have "cutting edge" performance (literally). But not the $129 cases,
at least not ordinarily. The June 27 review on Madshrimps, a Danish
site, showed photographs of some of the Silentium's sharp edges.
Guess what? Madshrimps is being censored! Question: is Madshrimps
a participant in this
censorship, or a victim? I refer to the June 27 2005 review of the
Silentium
case, which revealed its "cutting edge" performance.
Here is an email I've sent several people this morning:
-----------------------------
If you Google "Arctic Cooling Silentium Review" you'll find lotsa
places have
reviewed the Silentium. The one I read first was the Madshrimps
review on
June 27th of this year. You'll find that listed near the top in
Google. This
is the review that had several photographs illustrating the
Silentium's
"cutting edges" **literally**. But if you click on that review,
you'll find
that, strangely, it won't load. Hit refresh, and something seems to
veeery
gradually start loading, at a rate that'll complete sometime in the
next
millenium. Hmm. Strange.
No matter. We'll go to the Madshrimps site directly, click on
"articles", and
note that there are 27 articles on cases. Click on that, and (as you
would
expect from the Jun 27 date) there's the Silentium review, cutting
edges and
all, right at the top of the list. Click on that and... what's
this??... a
review of a _Thermaltake_ case, one that is not one of the 27 on the
list???
How about that, conspiracy and censorship fans?
---------------------------
OK, here's what some of the _favorable_ sites had to say about the
Silentium:
Silent PC Review: "It is impossible to take the side cover off
without first
removing the base. Removing the cover while there is a system running
inside
is a delicate and potentially dangerous procedure. It's a very awkward
design
compromise. Our impression is that this case is aimed mainly at system
integrators who would sell it as part of a complete system to
customers who'd
rarely open the case.."
"There are some minor issues that make the case unpleasant to work
with.
"All the plastic in the case is brittle, meaning that it breaks
easily.
The front panel cables could have been an inch or two longer.
The right panel is not removable, and the left panel requires the base
to be
removed before it can be opened.
The base / case interface is really awkward and could use rethinking.
"
"Most of these are installation issues, that, hopefully, only need to
be dealt
with infrequently.
The main difficulty that we have with this case is, of course, the
noise the
PSU fans produce, especially as the load is increased. We know the PSU
fans
are louder because they run faster than the back case exhaust fans.
There may
also be some extra resonance caused by vibrations going from the fans
into the
PSU and chassis as well. We also know that these fans can be much
quieter,
judging by the identical fans that are running slower on the back
panel.
We contemplated removing the PSU to either swap the fans or slow them
down
with extra resistance or diodes in the voltage feed to them, but
decided
against it. It's something only a small portion of even the hardcore
SPCR
audience would undertake. The power supply is really quite integrated
into the
case, and not designed to be removed. So most users will be stuck with
the
stock fans in the PSU as they are."
Insanetek: "From the cooling performance, it doesn't seem like the
Silentium
does that much better than a regular ATX case. But keep in mind that
the
Silentium does not have any intake fans to bring in cool air."
"Like many companies on a first attempt, Arctic Cooling's Silentium
T-series
comes with many flaws. The main imperfection is the motherboard tray.
There
just isn't enough space for ease of installation. It wouldn't hurt to
add an
inch to the width so that the motherboard can slip in easier. The
second is
the number of drive bays available. With so many accessories available
today,
it's not very surprising to see enthusiasts take up more than two
5.25" drive
bays. The last major flaw would be the included power supply. Although
Arctic
Cooling claims to be able to power a 3.8GHZ and a 6800 Ultra, the
moment I
installed a BFG 6800 OC, the system showed instability. The problem
wasn't
with the graphic card either; I made sure of that. Arctic Cooling sure
gets a
good pat on the back for their great innovations, but they need to do
a lot of
work to fix these flaws."
But not a single mention of the Silentium's cutting-edge performance.
If
there had been, these reviews would have been censored out of
existence, too!
;-)
